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  • Essay / Lottridge's Demeter and Persephone, Osborne's The Face in the Pool and Gadd's Pandora's Box: How Greek Mythology Uses Women as Scapegoats for Men

    Have you ever discovered a tale or myth in which a female character was revealed to be a protagonist, sheltered from danger and having to be controlled by others? Unlikely. The mythological world was so much a male civilization that women did not attract public attention at all. Although female characters were often involved in countless myths, many of them were scapegoats for men; they must suffer, sacrifice and be tossed about. Such depictions were established in Celia Barker Lottridge's "Demeter and Persephone", Mary Pope Osborne's "The Face in the Pool", and in the Greek mythology debut "Pandora's Box" by TR Gadd. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In almost every tale and myth, there was always an innocent female character who ultimately had to suffer. Demeter, goddess of the Earth, and her daughter Persephone, were two delighted female figures who lived on Earth in the story of "Demeter and Persephone." Unfortunately, Hades, god of the underworld, decided to kidnap Demeter's beloved daughter, bringing joy and lightness to the world where only death existed. Eventually, Demeter soon discovered Persephone's loss and this angry mother sought revenge. Therefore, Persephone became the property and was under the rule of Hades. As an ignorant person, Persephone didn't know why all of a sudden she became the wife of Hades and breathed the air of the underworld forever. On the other hand, men and the nature of the Earth were covered with the memory of Demeter. “Until my daughter is returned to me, the earth will show the sorrow in my heart,” Demeter told Zeus (Lottridge 314). It emerges that Demeter and Persephone were innocent female figures who had done nothing wrong but had to suffer in different ways. Additionally, the Earth Goddess and Persephone only brought energy and joy to the world, while Hades was the one causing the trouble. Yet Persephone had to stay in the dark and gloomy underworld and Demeter had to suffer sadness. These acts of sanction proved that they were punished for the fault of others, therefore scapegoats of Hades. Evidence of suffering was also developed in "The Face in the Pool" where Echo, a charming nymph, served the sky god and also ruler of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter. In addition to this, Jupiter frequently called upon this little wood nymph to distract his wife Juno from discovering where he was jovially entertaining himself with other wood nymphs. Eventually, his wife realized that Echo was misleading her and Juno, outraged, cast a spell on Echo. As a result, poor Echo was not only cursed for his inability to develop sentences, but also for only repeating the last words of others. Unlike Demeter in "Demeter and Persephone", the curse on Echo was continuous, never-ending suffering. Words filled with fury came out of Juno's mouth as she shouted angrily in Echo's face: "From now on, your voice will be shorter, my dear! You will always have the last word - but never the first." (Osborne 6) Because of this, we can identify how Echo, as a female character, was indeed helping a god but unfortunately ended up suffering. Additionally, Echo was just being used as a toy for Jupiter, but he didn't even intend to help Echo recover or do anything about it afterward.that his wife grieved her to forever echo the words of others. Echo was obviously nothing more than a scapegoat for Jupiter for what he did. In other words, Jupiter essentially treated Echo as a shield that kept him out of trouble to kiss and play with wood nymphs and yet Echo was abandoned when she became useless. Evidence of suffering appeared in "Pandora's Box" similarly, where Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a non-ordinary woman to take responsibility for pouring out evils into the world. Due to Pandora's curiosity in her head which was started by Zeus, she unsealed a wrapped jar and evils plagued the world. Shortly after Epimetheus and Pandora were married, Pandora tried to convince her husband to allow her to check what was in this magnificent jar, a gift from the king of the gods. "Please, husband. I would love to see it," she continued to urge Epimetheus, "I wonder what's in it." (Gadd 20) Obviously, we could recognize that Pandora was a female character in this myth who was entrusted with great responsibilities and who was created with an empty head but also with great curiosity. She may not know it herself, but she suffered. Furthermore, Zeus came up with this plan of revenge against humanity simply because the fire reminded him of it. And yet, it is humans and Prometheus who are essentially at the origin of this disorder. So similar to Demeter, Persephone and Echo, Pandora had to suffer from the fault of others. In this case, Pandora was the scapegoat of humans, Prometheus and even Zeus. Many myths were comprised of suffering to some extent and it was the female figures who were initially innocent but were expected to contribute to this suffering. There was always a female figure who had to sacrifice something in many different myths. In the story of “Demeter and Persephone,” Zeus, the Sky Father, knew that Persephone was still young and did not belong to the underworld. Meanwhile, as Hades called Persephone to accompany Hermes, the messenger of the gods, he also stated that if Persephone had eaten something in the underworld, she would not be able to leave. Realizing that Persephone had actually eaten four pomegranate seeds, Zeus had no choice but to speak to both Demeter and Hades: "Because Persephone ate four seeds in the underworld, she will spend four months of l year with Hades. " (Lottridge 315) Obviously, it was shown that Persephone, as one of the female characters in the story, had to sacrifice part of her life by giving up four months every year and spending time in the underworld with Hades. Additionally, Persephone was just a happy little goddess who enjoyed life on Earth, but was captured by Hades. Persephone was clearly nothing more than a simple scapegoat for Hades for his sin. Accounts of self-sacrificing female figures also appeared in "Face in the Pool", where Echo was cursed with not being able to create sentences and could only speak the last words of others. In other words, his ability to speak was significantly reduced. Likewise, she had to sacrifice something that was part of her life base, just like Persephone. For example, the words from Juno's mouth: "From now on, your voice will be shorter, my dear! You will always have the last word - but never the first." (Osborne 6) effectively illustrated that Echo would no longer have the freedom and ease to communicate with others from this point on. Furthermore, quotes such as “Let us meet” (Osborne 6), “Love me” (Osborne 6) and “Goodbye my love” (Osborne 7) demonstratedwhat and how Echo sacrificed in the story. Plus, Echo was obviously Jupiter's scapegoat for him playing with the wood nymphs. In other words, Echo was Jupiter's shield who eventually partially lost her voice and sacrificed her ability to speak. Unlike Persephone and Echo, Pandora didn't have to sacrifice anything. Even though she had the responsibility to release evil into the world, she actually had nothing to sacrifice. As a gift from Zeus, she was sent to be the wife of Epimetheus. Ask questions such as "Where is this great light in the sky coming from? Why is it cold today? Why is this water falling from the sky?" (Gadd 20) showed how Pandora was happy with the marriage and had no problems afterward. As previously mentioned, she was the gift, even weapon, of Zeus. Therefore, it can be said that Pandora was Zeus's scapegoat for his revenge on humans. All myths required the characters to sacrifice something in order to demonstrate sympathy and the need for that person, but often these were female figures who had to give up something and become involved in the sacrifice. Many myths involved sacrifice to some extent and it was mainly the female figures who sacrificed their possessions, but not the men. In most myths and stories, female characters were often tossed around by others. As previously mentioned, Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was unable to stay on Earth all year because Hades fell in love with her. “Because Persephone ate four seeds in the underworld, she will spend four months of the year with Hades.” (Lottridge 315) Clearly, Zeus declared that Persephone would have to spend four months each year living in the underworld. Subsequently, she began to be tossed around by male characters in the story directly by Hades and somehow by Zeus, who had this unpleasant idea. After all, it was Hades who caused these terrible mistakes. So, until now, Persephone and even Demeter were still Hades' scapegoats for what he had done. Evidence of female characters being tossed around also appeared in “Face in the Pool.” Despite the fact that Echo was one of the toys that Jupiter could kiss and play with, Jupiter still called Echo to get close to his wife and act as a shield when Juno was about to find him. Therefore, Echo had to sneak around to find Juno's whereabouts before Juno found out what Jupiter was doing. “But every time Juno was about to find Jupiter, a charming nymph named Echo crossed her path.” (Osborne 6) So she was sent everywhere to do whatever Jupiter told her and was constantly being tossed around to some extent. However, her level of being tossed around by male figures was not as high as what Persephone experienced. Additionally, after serving as Jupiter's shield, Juno soon discovered that Echo was deceiving her and cast a killing curse on Echo. Yet Jupiter didn't even think about trying to save her after this happened. Therefore, Echo clearly appeared as a scapegoat for Jupiter's entertainment and was discarded after use. In “Pandora’s Box,” Zeus came up with a clever plan to bring evil upon human beings. Pandora, the carrier of the evil gift, was created and sent into humanity with her husband and was responsible for releasing evils into the world. From the words from the mouth of Zeus: "Now it is time for me to give her my gift. Let's see what this gift will do for her. But Hermes, I still have one task for you to complete. Take Pandora to Epimetheus, the brother of this traitor, Prometheus, and tell him that she?